Felipe Silva abducted daughter Ellie (right) while on a holiday to Portugal.

For three long months Candice Gannon has not see her daughter, Giselle Candice Kelly Silva, affectionately named as Ellie, aged seven. The child's father, Philip Silva, 35, who resides in Vilamoura (Loulé), ignored an Order of the Faro Family and Minor Court and disappeared with their daughter. In desperation, the mother created a website [http://reuniteellie.webs.com] to publicize the case and try to get clues to the whereabouts of the girl. "The last time I saw Ellie was on the 15th of July. Her father and I agreed that Ellie would be with him for two weeks in the Algarve and should return on July 31, which did not happen," said Candice Gannon, 27, Irish and resident in Funchal on the island of Madeira. Since then, she has only spoke with her daughter three times, most recently on 5 August. "She seemed stressed or scared. Someone told her to answer only 'yes,' no ',' do not know' "she recalls. Since then, she has only seen her ex-partner at a parental hearing on 6 September. On September 13, the Faro Family and Minor Court issued a warrant of location and delivery of the child to the mother, the interdiction to leave the country and the inclusion of child's data in the Schengen Information System. "It is very difficult not knowing if my daughter is alive or dead," lamented Candice, who filed a criminal complaint of subtraction of a minor, which is in the process of being investigated.

The CM attempted to contact Filipe Silva, but he did not answer our calls

He refused to say where his daughter Ellie (8) was after having kidnapped her for six months, and was placed in custody awaiting trial. Filipe Silva, captured yesterday by the Judicial Police, was heard by a judge for more than 12 hours at the Court of Faro, and held the position of not cooperating with the Justice. "I will not say anything until the trial," said the Vilamoura businessman at the court entrance. According to the CM found, Filipe Silva, 34, was repeatedly warned to change his attitude and say where his daughter was. However, he declined to cooperate with the authorities, who continued yesterday to make several attempts to locate little Ellie.

The mother, Candice Kelly, told CM she was contacted by Portuguese police but never by Philip's family. Are in panic. No news about her daughter. "It is very disgusting not knowing where Ellie is. When the phone rings, you don't know if it will be good news or terrible," blurted the mother, adding that, "this is the most dangerous moment in Ellie's life."

The child's grandmother assured the CM that Ellie is safe. "She's fine but do not want to talk more about it. There will be an ideal time to talk and we will tell you all there," she said.

The CM found before the capture Filipe Silva that the PJ had already prepared a trap in order to recover the child. They planned to captured the father and expected to find and rescue the child safely in the next hours.

THE mother of eight-year-old Ellie Silva, who was taken by her Portuguese father for seven months, has said she doesn't know when she'll be able to take her daughter home to Ireland.

Candice Gannon has spoken of her frustration over the slow-moving Portuguese legal system and her fear that the schoolgirl's father, Filipe Silva, may try to take his daughter again.

There is no restraining order against the 34-year-old businessman and joint parental authority granted to him by a Portuguese court last year means that he still has visitation rights and a say in where she lives.

Ms Gannon (27) said she did not know when Portuguese authorities would allow her to bring her daughter home to Ireland.

"It's just awful what's going on," she told the Irish Independent. "It's one thing after another. How much more do we have to go through as a family?"

Father Filipe Silva (left) on way to a previous Court appearance.

Mr Silva (34) allegedly kidnapped his daughter after he collected her from Ms Gannon at Dublin Airport last July for a two-week holiday.

Ms Gannon didn't see Ellie for seven months until they were reunited last week when Mr Silva's mother handed her granddaughter over to Portuguese authorities.

Mr Silva had been arrested four days earlier on February 8 and was released on bail while he is investigated on suspicion of kidnapping his daughter.

He has since given a TV interview in which he said he had no regrets about taking Ellie, vowing he would continue his efforts to win custody of his daughter.

Ms Gannon, meanwhile, remains on the Portuguese island of Madeira as she doesn't have permission to return to Ireland with Ellie. She has lived there for the past five years as the custody battle raged in the courts.

"I'm just so happy that I've got my daughter back and she's safe," she said. But she added: "What we're feeling sick about every day is, is he going to take her away from me again?

"It's a nightmare at the moment."

Ellie had "been through hell and back and she's going to need a lot of support", Ms Gannon said.

"She really doesn't need her father to come over and interrupt all of that and upset her because, ultimately, I'm an adult and he's an adult, but she's only eight years old and she's the one who's going to get affected in the long run."

Her husband, Irishman Philip Gannon, said it was always the family's intention to settle in Ireland but that they were "trapped" in Portugal due to Mr Silva's parental rights.

He said Ms Gannon had written to Mr Silva last summer asking for permission to move Ellie to Ireland but was refused.

Meanwhile, Ms Gannon rejected as "rubbish" allegations by Mr Silva in a Portuguese TV interview that she had changed his daughter's second name to Gannon, disrupted her education and stopped her from learning Portuguese.

In the interview he said that taking his daughter were the actions of a "desperate father, looking for the truth and the love of my daughter".

A leaked court report has revealed extraordinary behind-the-scenes manoeuvres by an Albufeira magistrate in the high-profile abduction of nine-year-old British Ellie (Giselle Silva) by her Portuguese father, Filipe Silva.

The report, shown to the Resident over the weekend, itemises no less than 25 tapped phone conversations that took place between the magistrate and Ellie’s paternal grandmother early last year as the net tightened around Silva following seven-months ‘on-the-run’ with his daughter.

The conversations show that the magistrate was firmly on the side of Ellie’s father.

In one, she tells Silva’s mother: “Everyone knows it isn’t kidnapping…”; in another she advises the woman “not to worry” and tells her it is very important for her son to say “that he doesn’t want to make a statement” when questioned by police.

The fact that the inquiry went on to find that there was no evidence of complicity between the female magistrate and Filipe Silva has “appalled” even those outside the child’s Irish family.

Ellie’s mother Candice Gannon said at the weekend that even Portuguese people who have read the document are astounded - both by the involvement of a criminal prosecutor as by the decision of the high court of Évora “not to see anything wrong with the involvement”.

“Like everybody else, I am very concerned about this decision which seems to ignore the very obvious moral and ethical issues regarding the highly unusual level of help and assistance offered to an Algarvian ‘arguido’ by an Algarvian criminal public prosecutor,” she told us.

“Everybody I have spoken to agrees it is exactly as we thought it was all along - a case of out-and-out corruption in which Ellie and I never stood a chance.

“I would be lying if I said that this document did not confirm what most people already knew about this case over the past 20 months - corrupt Portuguese officials supporting the local national, without any regard whatsoever for either the child or the child's distraught mother (a foreigner!)”.

Candice, now married to Philip Gannon, and a long-time resident on the island of Madeira added: “Needless to say, we will be looking for our own answers to these questions in the European courts in what is sure to become a very high profile ECHR case against Portugal.”

As Candice spoke to us, Ellie remains confined to a hotel in Funchal with her father because Faro Civil Court refused to allow her to travel to Ireland with her family.

This side of the drama (reported in the Resident in November) came after Candice’s twin-pregnancy developed complications late last year. The 29-year-old has had to remain in Ireland awaiting the birth of her sons, due to be induced this week.

Meantime, Silva still awaits his trial over the kidnapping of Ellie in the summer of 2012. He has since filed for full custody of his daughter, and that application is due to be heard on March 24 in Faro.

The joyous reunion is taking place after a Portuguese court decided last week that Ellie's dad should hand her back to her mum Candice.

Tug-of-love schoolgirl Ellie Silva is on her way back to Ireland for an emotional reunion with overjoyed mum Candice Gannon.

Ellie, nine, started her journey back to Dublin just after midday today after Portuguese police forced dad Filipe Silva to hand her over to Candice’s husband Philip.

Silva, 36, turned up at Funchal airport in Madeira just after 9am claiming he had lost Ellie’s travel documents.

But police made him obey a court order after officials said she could travel to Ireland on an emergency passport provided by a British consul.

Ellie’s British-born mum Candice, 29, who has dual nationality because of her Irish dad, was expected to be reunited with her daughter late this evening.

She has arranged to take her new-born twins Henry and Charles and Ellie’s sister Olivia, three, to Dublin Airport to meet her and businessman Philip, 47, off their plane before their first meal together in nearly seven months at their home in nearby Ballsbridge.

Speaking shortly before they boarded their first flight to London ahead of a second flight later today to Dublin, Mr Gannon said: “Ellie is over the moon to be heading back.

“She can’t wait to see her mum and her brothers and sister.

“It’s a really happy ending. It was a moment of real relief when Filipe Silva handed her over.

A family friend added: “About seven police turned up at Funchal Airport to make sure (Silva) complied with the court order.

“He arrived with a lawyer and a Portuguese TV crew and claimed he’d lost Ellie’s travel documents, having filed a complaint yesterday to the court claiming Philip and Ellie would be travelling on forged documents.

“His face dropped when Philip produced the emergency passport a British consul had very kindly flown to Madeira with.

“He’s breached the court order by not giving Ellie her travel documents back. He has her passport and identity card.”

A court in Faro rejected Silva’s bid for custody of Ellie last month and gave Candice permission to raise her in Ireland, ending years of legal wrangling over the youngster.

The mum-of-four was forced to return to Ireland last October because of a health problem to her recently-born twin boys.

Last week worried Candice persuaded an Algarve court to give police powers to compel Silva to obey the court order.

He still faces a kidnap trial over his alleged July 2012 abduction of his daughter, kept from Candice for nearly seven months at a hideaway in the northern Portuguese city of Porto.

Ellie, ten in December, has been living in a grubby hotel in Madeira with Silva and his mum Ana Maria since Candice’s forced return to Ireland last year.

Candice accused her ex of abusing the Portuguese legal system after being told police would force him to hand their daughter over to her.

Portuguese businessman Filipe Silva is next month to stand trial over the suspected kidnapping of his daughter Giselle Silva, commonly referred to in the press as Ellie, whose mother has dual British-Irish nationality.

Ellie Silva with stepfather Philip Gannon before boarding her plane home in May 2014.

The trial is due to commence on 17 March 2015 in Faro, it emerged this week.

A source from the Attorney-General’s office confirmed the case is currently “in a judicial phase and under the jurisdiction of a Judge.”

Silva, whose last known address was in Vilamoura, is to be brought before a judge after refusing to return his daughter to her mother following a two-week holiday in September 2012. He is accused of unlawfully keeping the girl, then seven, from her mother, his ex-partner Candice Gannon, who had been granted parental custody and lived on the island of Madeira at the time. Silva is also said to have flouted a court order to return the girl to her mother.

He was eventually detained by PJ detectives in early 2013 following a complex investigation which culminated in the issuing of an international arrest warrant. Ellie, by then eight, was handed over to the authorities by her paternal grandmother in February 2013. It is thought she had spent several months living with her father in Oporto, northern Portugal.

Reports this week by Correio da Manhã claim that should Filipe Silva be found guilty of kidnapping his daughter he could face up to ten years in prison.

The tortuous kidnap drama gripped the nation after Vilamoura businessman Filipe Silva hid his eight-year-old daughter Ellie from her distraught mother for seven agonising months. That was three years ago - but only now is the case against Silva coming to court.

Speaking to us from Ellie’s new home in Ireland, her mother Candice Gannon told the Resident that Silva will also face charges relating to his non-payment of child support. “He hasn’t paid a penny in child support since 2011,” she said. “The criminal prosecutor has decided to try him for that, along with the kidnapping.”

But whatever happens when the case is heard next month (scheduled to start on Monday, March 16), Ellie and her mother will not be turning up to find out.

“We would never allow Ellie to step foot back in Portugal again,” Candice vowed.

Candice had had to be flown to Ireland for specialist treatment during her twin-pregnancy, and the Faro Child and Minors court did not allow Ellie to travel with her.

Instead she was made to live another seven months in a hotel with her father - the man who originally abducted her.

In that time, Silva contacted TVI and the damning report was aired the night Ellie flew out to Ireland.

“We were so lucky,” Candice told us at the time.

“If we hadn’t got out, it could all have ended so differently.”

But as it was, Ellie returned to the bosom of her amplified family (meeting the two little brothers she had never seen) and generally healing the emotional scars of the past.

Silva meantime has “made no attempt whatsoever to contact Ellie since last summer”, her mother told us.

“He has never once visited her in Ireland, and even if he did, Ellie would refuse to go with him as she is terrified he will kidnap her again”.

Thus, all the ‘evidence’ to be given by Ellie and her mother will have to be organised through video-link.

This may mean that the trial is delayed, says Candice as her lawyer has told her that video links “can take quite a bit of time to arrange”.

With any luck, the evidence Ellie gave state psychologists after her kidnap ordeal “will suffice for the criminal trial” said her mother - and leave Ellie, now aged 10, to the simple pleasures of childhood.

“She is enjoying sleepovers with school friends and loves her new school,” said Candice. “She is a big help with the twins and inseparable from Olivia (her youngest sister) who adores her. Life could not be better for us! A chill runs up my spine when I think that they almost got away with it. To think that Ellie was left in a hotel room with her kidnapper for seven months while they prepared his trial for full custody... Lies, deceit, corruption. It’s good to be back in civilisation!”

That poor little lass, must be very confused with it all. Living in a not very nice, place to raise a child .I hope the family are now very happy and that Elllie's father is regretting his action.We must wait and see what the punishment will be, but I suspect it will be very light.

That poor little lass, must be very confused with it all. Living in a not very nice, place to raise a child .I hope the family are now very happy and that Elllie's father is regretting his action.We must wait and see what the punishment will be, but I suspect it will be very light.

Check out the additional post at #3 which reveals the extraordinary behind-the-scenes manoeuvres by an Albufeira magistrate in the high-profile abduction of nine-year-old British Ellie (Giselle Silva) by her Portuguese father, Filipe Silva. No less than 25 secretly recorded telephone conversations with the child's paternal grandmother?

Check out the additional post at #3 which reveals the extraordinary behind-the-scenes manoeuvres by an Albufeira magistrate in the high-profile abduction of nine-year-old British Ellie (Giselle Silva) by her Portuguese father, Filipe Silva. No less than 25 secretly recorded telephone conversations with the child's paternal grandmother?

That particular attorney got off very lightly imo.

I don't think he will give up easily by the sounds of it, so I hope he gets long enough for the girl to be grown up, before he endeavours to kidnap her again, but as I said, I doubt it will be a harsh sentence. They sure look after their own.

Check out the additional post at #3 which reveals the extraordinary behind-the-scenes manoeuvres by an Albufeira magistrate in the high-profile abduction of nine-year-old British Ellie (Giselle Silva) by her Portuguese father, Filipe Silva. No less than 25 secretly recorded telephone conversations with the child's paternal grandmother?

That particular attorney got off very lightly imo.

Just found it and reading. Well I can't say that I am surprised by the way that british/irish parent was treated.....Excerpt:-The conversations show that the magistrate was firmly on the side of Ellie’s father.

In one, she tells Silva’s mother: “Everyone knows it isn’t kidnapping…”; in another she advises the woman “not to worry” and tells her it is very important for her son to say “that he doesn’t want to make a statement” when questioned by police.

The fact that the inquiry went on to find that there was no evidence of complicity between the female magistrate and Filipe Silva has “appalled” even those outside the child’s Irish family.

Ellie’s mother Candice Gannon said at the weekend that even Portuguese people who have read the document are astounded - both by the involvement of a criminal prosecutor as by the decision of the high court of Évora “not to see anything wrong with the involvement”.

While we await the trial……………………Some heart warming photos of the family back home in the article below.

Girl kidnapped for two years meets baby twin brothers for the first time back home in DublinMay 8, 2014

Candice Gannon (29) and her daughter, Ellie Gannon (9), hold twins, Charles and Henry (2 months old) at home in Killiney Yesterday, Ellie spent her first morning at home in almost two years since she was abducted by her Portuguese father – and her first thought was to help her mother Candice Gannon cook breakfast.

The caring sister awoke in her Ballsbridge home with the promise of a day out at a local park to feed the ducks to look forward to.Ellie, who had been living with her father, Filipe Silva, 35, and her Portuguese grandmother in a two-star hotel room since October, had only seen her mother four times during Skype chats permitted by her father.And she had never met her two new two-month-old baby brothers, Charles and Henry, until she arrived into Dublin on Monday night.

Ellie Gannon (9) with her sister Olivia (6) at home in Killiney, The moment she touched down on Irish soil – after the family secured her custody in a legal battle that has run for six years – was captured in yesterday’s Irish Daily Mail.‘She woke up and helped me with breakfast,’ Ellie’s mother, Candice, 29, said. ‘She made beans and eggs with me and then we realised in the chaos, we had forgotten the bread,’ Ms Gannon laughed. ‘It was like waking up to all our Christmases at once to have Ellie home with us finally.’And Ms Gannon said of her family’s joy over the last couple of days, ‘We have walked out of the darkness.’Running around the house and playing with little sister Olivia, who is three, it was hard to believe that Ellie had been away from the warmth of her family for two years.

Ellie Silva and Philip Gannon at T2 in Dublin Airport ‘It’s a wonderful feeling to have Ellie home. I feel really happy,’ Ms Gannon said. ‘It is like Ellie was never away. She is so happy to be home with us. Ellie is smiling and laughing because she is now part of a normal family unit with stability. That is what every child needs. Ellie needed her mother, as I needed her.’With her own bedroom and the adoration of her siblings – in particular, little Olivia – Ellie has already stepped into the familiar shoes of big sister. She confidently cradled her twin brothers and guided her little sister in games yesterday.But despite the family living in a suddenly idyllic situation, the past is never far away. Olivia gets upset when she cannot find her sister even if Ellie steps out of the room for a matter of minutes.Ms Gannon explained: ‘Olivia missed Ellie so much and she is scared she is going to go missing again, but we just have to let everything settle back so she knows her sister is staying here with us.’ But still, the family feel there is a threat of Ellie being taken again.The Portuguese authorities have given custody to Ms Gannon but Mr Silva has been given part access, meaning he has been allowed permission to take Ellie during certain holidays throughout the year.The first of these arrangements is due to take place in just eight weeks and this is not something the family want to think too much about as they revel in having their daughter home with them.Ellie vanished during a holiday with her father on the Algarve in July 2012.In February 2013, Portuguese police found the child in a Porto apartment. She had been told to wear a disguise and call herself Pipinha.Looking towards her husband, Dublin businessman Philip Gannon, 47, Ms Gannon smiles, saying: ‘He has been my rock. Philip has been my hero in all this – he stood by me and never once gave up on Ellie.’As she adjusted to being Ellie’s ever-attentive mother again yesterday, a cautious Ms Gannon said: ‘If I behave differently she will know there is something wrong. I will be saying, “clean your room, Ellie”. There is no point in being different. We are a normal family. I want to keep it as normal as possible.’Next up for the Gannons is helping Ellie settle back into life in Ireland. ‘We are looking at very good schools in Dublin,’ Ms Gannon said. ‘We are lucky enough to be able to afford it. We want the best for Ellie.’Laura Lynnothttp://www.evoke.ie/news/ellie-silva-met-her-twin-baby-brothers-for-the-first-time/

The small town corrupt and inept 'legal system' in the Algarve seems to take great pride in their culture of ineptitude, inefficiency, nepotism, corruption and racism. It will take several generations of EU membership to change this mindset.

The corrupt criminal prosecutor that was advising Silva to evade arrest has not been charged. His lawyer Nuno Remedios has not been charged either or disciplined by the law society, even though Ellie was hidden in the apartment building in Porto where he has a flat! Ana Maria Silva (paternal Grandmother) was let off scot free even though she stayed with Ellie throughout the kidnapping and lied to police saying she did not know where she was.

Mr. Alfonso Marques who kept Ellie in his two bed flat in Porto has not been charged of any crime. In the first seven months since Ellie was found, Candice Gannon endured over a dozen visits from armed police to her home and to Ellie's school while the Faro civil court prepared a trial to consider the merits of awarding her father custody of Ellie, while he was awaiting trial for kidnapping her.

The small town corrupt and inept 'legal system' in the Algarve seems to take great pride in their culture of ineptitude, inefficiency, nepotism, corruption and racism. It will take several generations of EU membership to change this mindset.

The corrupt criminal prosecutor that was advising Silva to evade arrest has not been charged. His lawyer Nuno Remedios has not been charged either or disciplined by the law society, even though Ellie was hidden in the apartment building in Porto where he has a flat! Ana Maria Silva (paternal Grandmother) was let off scot free even though she stayed with Ellie throughout the kidnapping and lied to police saying she did not know where she was.

Mr. Alfonso Marques who kept Ellie in his two bed flat in Porto has not been charged of any crime. In the first seven months since Ellie was found, Candice Gannon endured over a dozen visits from armed police to her home and to Ellie's school while the Faro civil court prepared a trial to consider the merits of awarding her father custody of Ellie, while he was awaiting trial for kidnapping her.